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Pastor Kevan Dobsin
Alive, But Am I Really Living?
It seems like a loaded question, but at different times in our lives we all find ourselves asking if we are really living. Are we living life to the full or are we just existing?
Depending on the stage we’re at, it may not always seem like a fair question. If we’re in a season where we have to make sacrifices, such as a student working on a degree or a parent waking up multiple times at night to care for a newborn, or someone working longer hours to provide for a family and cover a mortgage, it might seem like we’re stuck in a terribly mundane situation and not really living life.
We might be tempted to think that if our situation was the opposite, if we had financial independence and the freedom to live out all our dreams and aspirations – and experience all the world has to offer, that we would truly be living life.
Successful actor and comedian Jim Carrey recently said:
“I think everybody should get rich and famous and get everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Someone even wiser in human history, King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 NIV:
“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
Is There More To This Than That?
Regardless of how we may feel about our own lives, when we look around at the pain and unrest of our uncertain world, how could we not ask if there was more to life than this?
The Foo Fighters, a famous rock band that has experienced the heights of a long and successful career as well as the tragedy of recently losing a band member, won a Grammy award in 2022 for a song that captures the zeitgeist of so many in our world today. These are the lyrics to Waiting On A War:
“I’ve been waiting on a war since I was young
Since I was a little boy with a toy gun
Never really wanted to be number one
Just wanted to love everyone
Every day waiting for the sky to fall
Big crash on a world that’s so small
Is there more to this than that?
Is there more to this than that?
Is there more to this than just waiting on a war?”
We find emptiness in the world, we feel emptiness in ourselves – so the big question is “What is the meaning of life, anyway?”
It might take more than a blog to answer this, but the ancient Greek language might help us. The Greeks had three words for life in their language: bios, psuche and zoe. Modern philosophers still wrestle a bit to define these words but when we look at their ancient usage, particularly how Jesus used the words, we get a clearer picture.
Bios vs. Psuche vs. Zoe Life
Bios is defined as the manner or duration of life. It’s the root word for biology or biography. It speaks of everything to do in this physical life.
Psuche is sometimes translated soul and sometimes translated life in the Bible. It refers to our mind, our emotions and our will. Psychology comes from the root word psuche.
Zoe is the root source of life – what causes life. Jesus used this word the most to describe life and to describe himself.
The Source of Life
The apostle John describes Jesus in John 1:4 NKJV:
“In Him was life (zoe), and the life (zoe) was the light of men.”
Zoe is the life we are all searching for. It’s the unseen spiritual life that fuels us and gives us meaning. It’s the “more to this than that” that we are looking for. We search for it in all our pursuits, but it eludes us.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:14 NKJV:
“…narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life (zoe), and there are few who find it.”
Why is this zoe life so hard to find? Maybe we search in the wrong places or look to the wrong people. We must come to the source of zoe life and the source is not us and it is not the world. Jesus said He is the source.
In John 11:25 CSB, Jesus said:
“…I am the resurrection and the life (zoe). The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.”
Jesus’ claim was unprecedented in Jewish history. No one had ever said that they were the source of life and anyone who comes to them would find zoe life forever. Then he backed it up and proved it when he died on a cross just a few days later and rose from the dead three days after that.
Each year at Easter, Christians around the world celebrate the defining event of human history: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Death was unable to overcome the zoe life that was in Jesus. His resurrection has made a way for all of us to access the only source of divine, eternal, zoe life and gives us victory over death by believing in Him.
In John 10:10 ESV, Jesus said:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life (zoe) and have it abundantly.”
Do you feel like a thief has been robbing from you? That your life could be so much more? You don’t have to wait till Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and to experience His eternal zoe life. He has come to give an abundance of the life we’ve all been searching for.
Come to the Source
Like millions of Christians before you, believe in God’s love for you and come to Jesus with your whole heart, on your knees. Ask Him to be your Lord and follow Him as your source of life. Find a Bible believing community to be a part of and grow in your faith – come to Coastal Church on Sunday. Learn to pray and tell others about Jesus.
If you are looking for a perfect next step, there is rarely ever a season at Coastal Church where there is not an Alpha Course running that you can join right now. Alpha is an 11-week exploration of the Christian faith and the questions of life’s meaning. It’s for those who are searching or are new to the journey of faith. It’s also for those who need a valuable refresher in their spiritual journey. Come for yourself and bring a friend.
As I write this blog, we have Alphas beginning at several Coastal Church locations both in-person and online that you are invited to join. Not by coincidence, this first Alpha session is titled “Is There More To Life Than This?”
For more information and to sign up for Alpha, visit our website at https://coastalchurch.org/alpha/